Author: Thomas Ortsik

Founder and Kinda-Editor-In-Chief at Twinstiq.
Also known as Dr. Strangethumb

PSN Flash Sale, Grab Games Up to 80% Off

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Sony's at it again, slashing prices left and right on 20 PS4, 51 PS3, and 21 Vita games, some of which are cross buy.
If you've held off on buying excellent games like Nidhogg, Don't Starve, Peggle 2, or you just want an excuse to buy the entire Mass Effect Trilogy for under $5, today's you're lucky day!

My other recommendations are Ni no Kuni, DuckTales Remastered, Flower, and Tekken 6 PSP, but you'll have to head over to the store yourself to see all of the deals.

NPDs: Xbox One is US Top Seller in April

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According to the NPDs, the Xbox One outsold the PS4 and Wii U during the month of April. Microsoft was happy to spread the news of its first victory over Sony since last December. "As the best-selling console in the U.S. in April, fans set record April sales and engagement for Xbox One last month," declared Xbox Marketing chief Mike Nichols.
Console software spending increased 20% in the month of April. The PlayStation brand as a whole lead in game sales, perhaps owing to the larger cumulative user base in this current generation, as well as its presence in the handheld gaming sector.
Source: VentureBeat

Microsoft Temporarily Bans Gears Leakers From Live

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When videos of an early build of the Gears of War Remaster leaked yesterday, it didn't take long for Microsoft to react. Because of their actions breaking non disclosure agreements, leakers of the footage will be prevented from signing in to Xbox Live for an indefinite amount of time.
Testing partner VMC Games released a statement which described the punishment as rendering the affected users' consoles "entirely unusable," but this was later refuted by Microsoft, who responded to news outlets saying "To be clear, if a console is suspended from Xbox Live for a violation of the Terms of Use, it can still be used offline. Microsoft enforcement action does not result in a console becoming unusable."
Source: Neowin

New Nintendo eShop Releases: New Super Mario Bros, Mega May (Week 2)

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This week, the Nintendo eShop has several great items to choose from. For starters, New Super Mario Bros hits the Wii U Nintendo DS Virtual Console. Then Mega May continues with a Wii U Game Boy Advance Virtual Console double shot consisting of Mega Man Battle Network 3 - Blue and Mega Man Battle Network 3 - White. Sega adds another 3D classic to the mix. And finally, there is Nintendo's surprise Stretchmo release. All this and more is now available for your purchasing/gaming pleasure. So push your 3D slider up, eat a mega mushroom, and then jump past the break to see this week's complete list of new releases.
Wii U

3DS

[Image: Nintendo]

Andrew J Amideo
[Source: Business Wire]

Mobile is Growing, Console Share Shrinking

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Those who are quick to judge Konami harshly for their decision to focus on mobile platforms may just be thinking with their hard core gaming hearts. Phones and tablets may be their best bet to get their feet back on steady ground after losing top designer Hideo Kojima, forcing them to cancel Silent Hills and leaving uncertain the future of the Metal Gear franchise. We've known this to be true in Japan for a while, but MCV reports that now in the UK too, consoles are losing ground to handheld devices.
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While revenue continues to grow in the console space, its market presence is shrinking to 48%, with mobile gaming taking the majority overall share. This is according to research firm Newzoo, whose CEO Peter Warman adds “Mobile will take 28 per cent of all game spending in the UK this year as the market matures and growth rates slow down.”

It's true that mobile games are an overall smaller investment, but as more capable devices find their way into the hands and pockets of consumers who take them everywhere, it's easy to argue that there will be an increase in software and virtual goods purchases as well.

Have your spending habits changed on mobile? Are there suddenly more casual gamers around you than there were before smartphones became ubiquitous? Let us know your thoughts!

Source: MCV UK

Nintendo’s Surprise Stretchmo Release

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Up now on the eShop is Nintendo's follow up to Pushmo, called Stretchmo. Purchased either in bite sized chunks for $4.99 or $2.99 (depending on which world you choose to play in), or in one complete package for $9.99, there's a total of 250 new puzzles to experience.
Once the main component is downloaded, you can play the first seven levels for free, after which you must purchase one of four level packs to continue. A level editor is available, allowing you to share fan-made stages, but at least one of the add-ons must first be purchased.
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Source: Nintendo's YouTube Channel

Konami Turning Focus to Mobile Games

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Finding success in selling add-ons in games such as Power Pro and Winning Eleven, Konami seeks to take this a step further, "our games must move from selling things like 'items' to selling things like 'features.'" While hoping that titles on the cusp of release will do well overseas, Konami thinks the true future of gaming now lies entirely in the mobile arena.
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"Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that is always closest to us, is mobile. Mobile is where the future of gaming lies," affirms Hideki Hayakawa, CEO of Konami. "With multiplatform games, there's really no point in dividing the market into categories anymore. Mobiles will take on the new role of linking the general public to the gaming world."
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Metal Gear Solid V must have a huge production budget, and the hit driven business is hard to stay on top of when any giant investment could be a potential flop, or not reach the mass audience to break through to profitability. How do you feel about Konami's new direction? Do you think they are wise to play it safe, or do you want them to keep trying to strike gold on consoles?

Uncharted 4 Has Surprisingly Detailed Face Animations

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Uncharted 4's developers are raising the bar for facial animation. With twice the granularity in motion capture detail, more complex models, and finer skeletal control, expressions come across very convincingly.
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In an interview with GamesTM, Naughty Dog describes their achievement by comparing it to their well regarded hit, The Last of Us. "Think about that, how detailed Joel and Elli's pained facial expressions were, how well the game captured the respective actors ... Now, the faces have anywhere between 300 and 500 bones," says Josh Scherr, writer on Uncharted 4. That's almost five times the complexity.

Uncharted 4 is targeting 60 frames per second, and although animation is recorded from actors at 30 frames per second, interpolation will be used to smooth it out during gameplay and cutscenes, a technique that was also used in previous games.

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"If you look at the first Uncharted and how that looked versus how The Last of Us looked versus how The Last Of Us looked... I have difficulty fathoming that we'll have that kind of graphical leap in the next several years. The reality is, we probably will as we learn the systems better, so it's all up from here, and that's exciting."
Source: GamesTM

Gears of War Remaster Footage Leaked

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GameDVR direct video captures have leaked through Xbox Live users ElitistPath05 and SpongyPlains6, showing Gears of War Remaster running at 60 frames per second with improved lighting effects and texture work. Hit the jump to check it out!
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In this side by side comparison you can see the drastic changes made to overhaul the third person shooter for current generation hardware. According to YouTube user EMK KrAuSeR, improved smoke and blood effects are also in place.

Here are direct links to clip 1, and clip 2, via NeoGAF. Both have been mirrored on Mega, and Gematsu.

Source: Gematsu

Nintendo World Championships 2015

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Reggie Fils-Aime is excited to announce the comeback of the Nintendo World Championships, "it'll be the first time we've done it in 25 years!" Qualifying rounds will take place May 30th, and the most skilled Nintendo fans will move on to a head to head showdown in front of a worldwide audience (via stream) on June 14th.
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Aside from this exciting tournament, Nintendo will have a live Treehouse presentation at E3, featuring many guest appearances from game developers.